Vegetable soup, spaghetti bolognese, Apple Strudel....

Starter - Vegetable soup
Today, we went for a mega healthy starter, with cabbage, carrots, sweetcorn, leek, aubergine >
Most members enjoyed the soup and its mix of vegetables; although, one member of the group would have liked to add swede next time, another mentioning they would like to take out the aubergine...

Preparing the vegetables for the soup...

Soup stirring and boiling

Main Meal - Spaghetti bolognese

The members enjoyed the spaghetti bolognese top, the dessert of apple strudel / crumble second, and the vegetable soup came third in the enjoyment of the food.
All members agreed they really enjoyed this meal and would not change anything about the bolognese!

Stirring the bolognese

Preparing to serve the spaghetti

A full plate of spaghetti bolognese with parmesan cheese

Empty plate! A good sign!

Dessert... Apple Strudel!

We had a lot of apples left over, so we made apple crumble also! This was preferred by some members of the group.
Some members thought the strudel was a bit dry, but this was helped by the creme fraiche!
We had a healthier version of cream; creme fraiche >

Preparing the strudel...

Thats it for this week!

1st May 2013 chilli corn carne & 8th May 2013 spring rolls

1^st May 2013

Today we followed the choices from the week before, and we cooked the following;

For starter, we had swede and parsnip soup, 

followed by a main course of chilli con carne with rice.

Finally, for desert we cooked and ate upside down pineapple cake with custard.

The soup proved to be very popular, as did the pineapple upside down cake which some members hadn't had before, others last having it as a desert in school!

8^th May 2013

Today we cooked some oriental style food, quite Chinese based…

For starter, we had vegetable spring rolls which had beansprouts, chilli, red pepper and onion inside wrapped in filo pastry.

Our main  course was a chicken and cashew nut stir-fry with vegetables and rice. 

To finish, we had ‘apple snow’ which is egg white whisked with sugar, served with blueberries and strawberries.

With the main course one of the members would like to cook lamb with mint instead of chicken with cashew nut stir-fry.

One of the members really liked the apple snow because it tasted nice, most of the members would like to cook apple snow again.

Pita Pockets

Last week a few members of the group put their computer literacy skills to the test by being in charge of using the Come Dine With Us laptop to find healthy recipes that could be made at the club.

They found this fantastic low calorie starter, which is bursting with flavour and incorporates lots of nutritious ingredients.

As the group have proven to be brilliant bread makers (See previous blog entry Baking bread) they decided to make their own Pita breads for this dish.

Firstly for the actual Pita Breads we used:


Preparing the Dough



1/2 Cup of Whole Wheat Flour

1/2 Tsp Yeast
1 Tsp Sugar
1/4 Tsp Salt
1/4 Tsp Oil
A little Water

Combine all the ingredients except the oil, using enough water to create a soft dough. then add the oil and knead.

Then cover and leave to prove for about 15 minutes, the group were impressed that the dough doubled in size during this time.

Then  press the dough lightly to remove the air bubbles.

Divide the dough to 3 equal portions and roll out into a circular shape which is about 1/4 of an inch thick.

Then heat a griddle on a medium heat and cook the Pita's for a minute on each side until a cavity forms in the breads.

Then cut in half and leave to cool while you prepare the filling and the dressing.


The Filling:

                                                                 1 Cup of Cooked Chickpeas- We used Tinned.


Blending the Ingredients

 3 Tbsp of chopped Parsley
1 Tbsp of chopped onion
1 Tbsp of chopped Garlic
1 Tbsp Low Fat Yoghurt
1 Tsp White Pepper
1 Tbsp of Lemon Juice
A pinch of Salt

Combine the Chickpeas, parsley, onions and garlic in a mixer and blend to a smooth paste.

Transfer the mixture to a bowl, add the Yoghurt, pepper, salt and lemon juice and mix well.

Then divide the filling into 6 equal portions and keep aside.

The Dressing
1 Slice of Whole meal Bread
1/3 Cup of Yoghurt
1/4 Tsp Sugar
3/4 Tsp Oil
A Pinch of Black Pepper
1/2 Tsp Mustard Powder
1/2 Tbsp Parsley
A pinch of Salt

Combine the Bread, yoghurt, sugar and oil and blend in a mixer to a smooth paste.

Transfer the mixture to a bowl, add the pepper, mustard powder, parsley and salt and mix well.



Using a slicer to chop the carrots...



Divide it into 6 equal portions and keep aside.

Garnish:

Cabbage Leaves

Grated Carrot

Grated Cucumber



...and cucumber



Putting your Pita's Pockets Together:

Just before serving, arrange a few cabbage leaves evenly in a pita bread and stuff it with a portion of the filling.

Place a little carrot and cucumber on top followed by a portion of the dressing.

Repeat with the remaining ingredients to make 5 more pita pockets.

 The homemade pita's were great and well worth making from scratch and the flavours of the filling and the dressing worked really well together.

The group thought that this made a colourful and wholesome lunch. As a group we discussed how it was a great vegetarian option as the chickpeas are a good source of protein and carbohydrates, providing us with lots of energy for the day.





Lime and Raspberry Fool

Due to the success of the mango and passion fruit fool we made previously we decided to make a lime and raspberry variation.

They are so easy to make and can be prepared up to a day in advance and left in the fridge until you need them.

Ingredients:
(Serves 2)

200ml Greek Yoghurt
1 Tbsp of Caster Sugar
3 Tbsp Lime Juice
Zest of one Lemon
A Few Raspberries to place on top of the Fool.


Firstly zest the Lime and juice them - For three tablespoons of lime juice you will probably need 3 limes.

Then mix the caster sugar, Greek yoghurt, lime juice and zest together until smooth.

Then spoon into individual dishes and place a few raspberries on top of each one and chill in the fridge for at least 45 minutes.

Then serve.

A simple and fresh spring/summer dessert.

Chicken and Mushroom Risotto

Risotto is a great one pan dish with loads of flavour and you can practically add in anything you want.

This recipe is really useful if you have leftover chicken from a Sunday roast; its an exciting way to use up the leftovers a make a completely new meal!

Ingredients:
50g Butter
1 Onion
250g Mushroom
300g Risotto Rice
1 Glass Of White Wine
1.5 Litres Of Hot Chicken Stock
200g Cooked Chicken
Parsley
50g Parmesan


Firstly prepare the ingredients by chopping the onion, mushroom and chicken; we used fresh chicken but leftover chicken works just as well- if not better!

Then in a flat plan melt half the butter and add the onions and then the mushrooms. After a couple of minutes add the rice and stir until the rice is coated in the butter.

Keep stirring for a few minutes and add in the glass of wine and while continually stirring add the stock a ladle at a time and let the rice absorb each ladle of stock before adding more - this should take about 25 minutes.

When you add the final ladle of stock add in the chicken to heat through. Add a handful of parsley, the parmesan and the rest of the butter to make the risotto creamy.

Leave it to rest for a couple of minutes before giving it a stir and serving.

This was a great dish and the whole group really enjoyed the flavours and the process of watching the risotto come together in the pan.

Feel free to add whatever vegetables you want to this dish and make it your own with whatever you have left over in the fridge. For example use up the last bit of bacon by adding it in when cooking the onions, or throw in some peas or sweetcorn to add some colour. 

We hope you enjoy the risotto as much as we did.

Spring Minestrone Soup

The group took this recipe from a great book from the BBC GoodFood collection - Budget Food.

It is a great collection of simple cook books which gather up recipes for different occasions from one pot dishes to healthy meals.

For the Spring Minestrone Soup you will need:


200g Green vegetables - We used Asparagus, Spring onions and mange tout.
700ml Vegetable Stock
140g Cooked Pasta- We used chopped up spaghetti.
200g Butter Beans
3 Tbsp Green Pesto
Salt and Pepper

Firstly roughly chop all the green vegetables and cook the Spaghetti.

Heat some olive oil in a pan and cook the green vegetables for a couple of minutes.

Add the vegetables stock and tinned butter beans and allow to cook through for a few minutes.

Stir in the cooked pasta and green pesto and season with salt and pepper.

The group did enjoy the freshness of this soup however did comment that next time they would add some chilli to add an extra kick of flavour.

Ginger Cake

A few members of the group regularly buy ginger cake from the supermarket and wanted to know how to make it from scratch, so here is our version of this old favourite.

60g Butter

100g Golden Syrup

100g Plain Flour

25g Self Raising Flour

1 Tsp Bicarbonate Soda

1 Heaped Tsp of Ground Ginger

1/2 Tsp Mixed Spice

100g Caster Sugar

125ml Milk

1 Egg

Pinch of Salt

Pre heat Oven to 170 degrees and grease two circular cake tins or one loaf tin.

Melt the butter over a low heat and add golden syrup until smooth then take off the heat.

Sift the flour, bicarbonate soda, ginger and mixed spice into a large bowl. Add the caster sugar and salt and stir this together.

Beat the egg and add this and the milk to the flour mix and stir until smooth. Then slowly pour in the butter and golden syrup stirring continuously. 

Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 20-30 mins if using shallow cake tins or 45-50 minutes if using deep loaf tin. The cake should be golden brown and firm to the touch.

Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before transferring onto a wire rack to cool.